Tag Archives: M81

ColdMOS Images

M81 and M82 Bodes Galaxy and Cigar Galaxy in LHaRGB

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After much waiting, I finally have the RGB Data to go with the luminance layer, a new learning curve was the HDR Compose process in PixInsight, I used this to include the 300S Exposures I had previously that were burning out the core.

Equipment Used:
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Back Illuminated ColdMOS Camera at -20C
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher 8″ Quattro F4
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher 90×50 Finder
Filter Wheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium LRGB + 7nm Ha
Image Acquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Image Processing: PixInsight

Image Details:
101x150S in LRGB, Total 16.83 Hours
25x300S in LRGB, Total 8.33 Hours
25x600S in Ha, Total 4.16 Hours
Total exposure time: 29.32 Hours
BIAS, Darks and Flats subtracted
Target: M81 and M82 in Ursa Major
Acquisition Dates: Feb. 11, 2018,  Feb. 12, 2018,  Feb. 16, 2018,  Feb. 23, 2018,  Feb. 24, 2018,  March 13, 2018,  March 14, 2018,  March 15, 2018,  March 16, 2018,  March 19, 2018,  March 20, 2018

CCD Images

M81 and M82 Galaxies in LRGB+HA

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By far my biggest challenging project to date, maybe not by image acquisition, but by processing.  The above two galaxies caused me lots of grief when trying to process, they just did not come out right with my normal method of processing, so I turned to PixInsight to process them, and I anm so glad I did, the whole learning curve put me back to almost the same level I was at in 2008, but the steep learning curve paid off

M81 and M82 Galaxies in Ursa Major

Image Details
29x300S in LRGB
17x600S in 7nm HA
25 Darks and 25 Flats applied

Equipment Details:
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8-CF 8″ Newtonian F4
Imaging Camera: Atik Cameras 383L+
Guide Scope: Celestron Telescopes C80ED
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Filter Wheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm
Filters: Baader Planetarium LRGB+HA 36mm Unmounted

Proccessing:
Stacking and Combining: Maxim DL
Processing: PixInsight 1.8 x64

The images were taken over a number of nights since the beginning of december and totals 12.5 Hours of exposure time